EU CELEBRATES EUROPE DAY IN MSIA

KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 (Bernama) -- Europeans celebrated Europe Day with a
series of events to spread the spirit of unity with their Malaysian friends and
students from European member countries residing in Malaysia at a reception
hosted by the European Commission here.

The event was graced by guest of honour Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade
and Consumer Affairs Tan Lian Hoe, and the Ambassador & Head of Delegation
of the European Commission to Malaysia, Vincent Piket.

Piket said the Europe Day which falls on May 9 was a significant and
symbolic day for the 500 million Europeans around the world as the day marked
the formation of the union in 1950.

"Europe Day is also a celebration of the unity that the 27 EU member nations
share and cherish under a common identity," he said at the reception here
Thursday night.

The reception was attended by the ambassadors of all the EU countries
present in Malaysia; government officials, key policy makers and public
officials from the public sector; members of the media and partners of the
Commission's programmes and initiatives in Malaysia.

The idea behind what is known Friday as the European Union was
first put forward in Paris on May 9, 1950, against the then background of
instability and the need to rebuild a shattered Europe.

The then French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman read to the international
press a declaration calling on France, Germany and other European countries
to pool together their coal and steel production, which marked the conception of
the EU.

-- BERNAMA